INFLUENCE OF RIVER BED ELEVATION SURVEY CONFIGURATIONS AND INTERPOLATION METHODS ON THE ACCURACY OF LIDAR DTM-BASED RIVER FLOW SIMULATIONS

Abstract. In this paper, we investigated how survey configuration and the type of interpolation method can affect the accuracy of river flow simulations that utilize LIDAR DTM integrated with interpolated river bed as its main source of topographic information. Aside from determining the accuracy of the individually-generated river bed topographies, we also assessed the overall accuracy of the river flow simulations in terms of maximum flood depth and extent. Four survey configurations consisting of river bed elevation data points arranged as cross-section (XS), zig-zag (ZZ), river banks-centerline (RBCL), and river banks-centerline-zig-zag (RBCLZZ), and two interpolation methods (Inverse Distance-Weighted and Ordinary Kriging) were considered. Major results show that the choice of survey configuration, rather than the interpolation method, has significant effect on the accuracy of interpolated river bed surfaces, and subsequently on the accuracy of river flow simulations. The RMSEs of the interpolated surfaces and the model results vary from one configuration to another, and depends on how each configuration evenly collects river bed elevation data points. The large RMSEs for the RBCL configuration and the low RMSEs for the XS configuration confirm that as the data points become evenly spaced and cover more portions of the river, the resulting interpolated surface and the river flow simulation where it was used also become more accurate. The XS configuration with Ordinary Kriging (OK) as interpolation method provided the best river bed interpolation and river flow simulation results. The RBCL configuration, regardless of the interpolation algorithm used, resulted to least accurate river bed surfaces and simulation results. Based on the accuracy analysis, the use of XS configuration to collect river bed data points and applying the OK method to interpolate the river bed topography are the best methods to use to produce satisfactory river flow simulation outputs. The use of other configurations (and a choice between IDW or OK) except RBCL can also be an alternative in cases when the XS configuration is less practical or expensive to implement.